New funding to address housing affordability, but issues persist

It’s a “now” problem, with not very many “now” solutions.

The province went looking for some solutions to the issues around housing affordability challenges during a four-hour Provincial-Municipal Housing Summit on Wednesday morning, with Premier Doug Ford emphasising the challenge they’re facing.

“We don’t have anywhere near enough housing supply and prices are still increasing,” said Ford.

In fact, in December the average price for a home in the London area was $707,000, up 28 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Now the Ford government has announced a $45 million investment that will streamline and standardize development approvals across the province, according to Ford.

“That will help the province’s largest municipalities unlock housing supply, cutting the red tape that continues to stifle progress,” he said.

Still, the approvals process is only one in a myriad of complicating factors when it comes to housing supply.

London Mayor Ed Holder says he raised two issues during the summit he feels are critical, starting with a shortage of workers.

“Skilled trades, skilled labour. The second issue is supply chain. You need to be able to have the product, the wood products, the steel, all the other products that go into housing,” said Holder.

Even with that, the CEO of the London Home Builders’ Association, Jared Zaifman, says homes have been going up at a record pace in this region.

“Even just look at 2021, it was the biggest, record year in the City of London for new builds, new housing. Even at that point, our new builders have a waitlist that is months, even a year long,” said Zaifman.

Holder says London has been the fastest growing economy in the province for more than a year, with thousands of new jobs set to become available at locations like the new Amazon fulfilment centre and Maple Leaf Foods processing facility.

He stresses, “With all these people, where are we going to put them? That’s why housing is so fundamental to this.”

Holder believes one place to start is by accelerating the immigration applications of those in the skilled trades who can support housing growth.